Blog awards grow in SA

12/10/2010 14:24

Cape Town - Watkykjy was nominated as the News24 South African Blog of the Year at an event held at the One and Only Hotel in Cape Town. "We are extremely happy to see that blogging is slowly spreading across more languages and cultures of South Africa," said JP Naude, CEO of the SA Blog Awards.work boots "This year we saw a record number of public votes entered, in fact an increase of more than 300%, which is partly due to the fact that we allowed more votes. This system allowed for the recognition of dedicated bloggers who blog more frequently. In addition the new system has raised the level of awareness for blogging substantially," he added. The SA blog awards are designed to provide encouragement for South African bloggers, who make up about 50% of the local internet population. "It (the SA Blog awards) is to showcase the best of blogging and if you consider that there are so few people who are online in this country, it's incredibly crazy when you look at the number of people who blog here," organiser Chris Rawlinson told News24.ugg style boots Exposure He said that the awards would help successful bloggers to do well and improve their blogs. "There's no other reward for them (bloggers). This competition helps them to continue doing well and people who win end up being more successful in their blogs. "It also brings exposure to bloggers. We had finalists tell us that they've seen their traffic increasing." Rawlinson said that despite the size of the internet market in SA, bloggers are passionate about what they do and that blog popularity could lead to celebrity status, as in the US and other developed countries. "The interweb has given us an age of communication we have never experienced before. I truly enjoyed the process of studying the finalists in depth and I am impressed that our SA bloggers are on par with the rest of the world," said Robin Oliver, who judged the science and technology category.boots shopping Rawlinson criticised those who suggested that blogging was of questionable value because of the minority of people who have access to the internet in SA. "It shows you who's more forward-thinking, doesn't it? Beside the number of people who access the internet via their computers, there are many more who access it through their mobile phones. Mobile data in this county is astonishing. "If you've got political parties who engage with Twitter, for example, it gives them access to grassroots," he said.ugg boots for sale Regulation But he insisted that cost was still a huge barrier to entry. "My phone bill here is way high - about triple my UK bill which includes uncapped data and phone calls."ugg boots on sale Rawlinson said that it was impossible to regulate free speech on the internet but warned that "trolls" were on the prowl to cause controversy. "The beauty of the blogging is that there's no regulation and if people want to clamp down on free speech online, they will find it impossible - the only way to do it is to turn the internet off - and then people will go crazy.moncler "There will always be trolls - people who trawl the internet for controversy - or create it themselves. But most people can see they're trying to cause shit. If they're popular, it's because they're humorous - people don't take them seriously," he said. Rawlinson said the judges were looking for original content and, in the future, they intend on expanding the awards.jacketsair max shoesair maxair max 90air max 95